“If I wanted a story, the thing to do was to get my grandmother to read it to me. Then listening to her voice, her story-reading voice which always sounded a little incredulous, marvelling, yet full of faith, bravely insistent, and watching her face, its meaningful and utterly familiar expressions — lifted eyebrows, ominously sinking chin, brisk little nods of agreement when, as sometimes happened, a character said something sensible — then I would feel the story grow into life and exist by itself.”
Tag: 02.25.15
How A Book Club Is Helping To Keep Ex-Offenders From Going Back To Jail
“They were all teenagers then, charged as adults for their violent crimes. At the D.C. jail, they found solace in a book club, reading memoirs and reciting poems they had written. Over the past year, they finally came home. They see themselves as reformed men who did dumb things as kids but who know that others may have trouble forgiving.”
Opera House Boss Resigns After 53 Days On The Job
Ye-jin (Regina) Han, a 44-year-old soprano, faced opposition from the day she was appointed general director of the Korean National Opera: local organizations argued that she lacked the experience and qualifications to lead the country’s flagship company. Han’s departure comes two months after the CEO of the Seoul Philharmonic was forced to resign following the open rebellion of her staff.
Artifical Intelligence Conquers The Video Game Arcade (This Is Actually A Big Deal)
“Whipping humanity’s ass at Fishing Derby may not seem like a particularly noteworthy achievement for artificial intelligence” – think of Deep Blue beating Garry Kasparov at chess and Watson walloping Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! – “but according to Zachary Mason, a novelist and computer scientist, it actually is.”
New Website Monitors Ballet Dancers’ Pay And Conditions Worldwide
“Former dancer and ballet teacher Ian Knowles created the site – balletposition.com – which he claims is the first of its type, to compare useful data for dancers looking to join ballet companies in the UK, Western and Eastern Europe and the US.”
Henry VIII’s Arguments For Divorcing Catherine Of Aragon Found In Old Mansion
“A book which helped changed the course of English history, part of the evidence Henry VIII and his lawyers gathered in the 1530s to help win an annulment from Catherine of Aragon and ultimately to break with Rome, has turned up on the shelves of the magnificent library at Lanhydrock, a National Trust mansion in Cornwall.”
Dutch Restorers Offer To Repair Roman Fountain Damaged By Soccer Hooligans
“A Dutch restoration firm has offered to repair a 400-year-old fountain that was damaged last week when supporters of Rotterdam soccer team Feyenoord went on a drunken rampage in Rome’s historic center.” The Dutch government has rejected any responsibility to pay for restoration, though it says it supports private efforts.
Early To Bed And Early To Rise Does Not Make You More Moral (Take That, Ben Franklin!)
“Early birds aren’t ethically superior. And, to the extent that other research suggests that they are, it may just be that they are luckier: modern society, for the most part, is built around their preferences.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.25.15
Connecting with Communities: A Conversation Template
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-02-25
In the Heat of the Dance
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-02-25
Crucifixion Conservation: Cleveland Museum’s Time-Ravaged Caravaggio
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-02-25
Services For Clark Terry
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-02-25
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Oops. Hackers Buy Up First Batch Of “Burning Man” Tickets
“They figured out there was a problem when passes went on sale last week. Some 80,000 people tried to buy $390 tickets to the massive, free-for-all festival in a remote dry lake bed in the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada in late August. But only the first 20,000 people who clicked were guaranteed a pair of tickets.”